SO SENSITIVE

Catalyst October Issue 2004

Such sensitivity we haven’t seen in some time. A wooden podium used at the Republican National Convention really ticked some people off because it included a pattern in the shape of a cross. From the way some reacted, we expected the sky to fall any minute.

Rev. James Forbes Jr., a left-wing minister at New York’s Riverside Church, said, “This is an unusual and inappropriate use of religious symbols in a political campaign.” Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, exclaimed, “That’s upsetting.” Ira Foxman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, opined, “It is the very height of insensitivity for the Republican Party to feature a cross at the center of the podium of this convention.” And a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, Matt Bennett, ripped, “The Republicans are very good at stagecraft.”